In the past, various different structural schemes have been employed in the construction or assembly of an outdoor unit of a central system for conditioning air adapted to be supplied to a preselected space to regulate the temperature of such preselected space. As utilized hereinafter, the terminology "outdoor unit" or "unit" is intended to encompass either an air cooled condensing unit or an air cooled split system heat pump unit both of which are respective components of the aforementioned central system for conditioning air.
In one of the past structural schemes for an outdoor unit, a blower motor was provided with a "seating" end frame and a "shaft" end frame which were positioned in engagement with the opposite ends of a housing or shell of the blower motor, and a set of extended thru-bolts were interconnected between the "seating" end frame and the "shaft" end frame to retain them against displacement from their respective engaged positions with the blower motor shell. The term extended thru-bolts designates those particular thru-bolts having a threaded end section which respectively extended exteriorly and axially beyond the "seating" end frame opposite the "shaft" end frame through which the motor shaft extended for driving connection with a fan.
When the blower motor was mounted or assembled to a cover of a housing or cabinet for one of the past outdoor units, the "seating" end frame of the blower motor was abutted against an interior or bottom face of the cover generally centrally thereof, and the threaded sections of the extended thru-bolts projected through a set of openings in the cover for receiving the threaded sections. To retain the blower motor in its assembled position on the cover, a set of acorn nuts or the like were threadedly received on the threaded sections of the extended thru-bolts and tightened into engagement with the exterior or upper face of the cover opposite the aforementioned bottom face thereof against which the "seating" end frame of the blower motor was abutted. With the blower motor so mounted to the cover, a fan was secured to the motor shaft adjacent the "shaft" end frame, and the cover was secured in place on the housing for the past outdoor unit with the fan disposed within the housing. Of course, when the blower motor was energized to rotate the fan, ambient air was drawn into the housing through grill work in at least some of the sides of the housing and circulated in heat exchange relation with the various components mounted within the housing, such as for instance a hermetic compressor and the coils of a condenser or the like. The circulated air was then discharged or expelled generally vertically or upwardly from the housing by the blower motor fan through grill work forming a part of the cover.
While the above discussed structural schemes for the past outdoor unit may have had some salient features, it is believed that one of the disadvantageous or undesirable features involved not only an excess number of parts required to mount the blower motor to the cover but also the labor to assemble such excess number of parts. Further, other disadvantageous or undesirable features of the structural schemes for the past outdoor unit are believed to be problems encountered with respect to damaged, bent or loose extended thru-bolts on the blower motor as well as defective or cross-threaded acorn nuts or the like for threaded engagement with the extended thru-bolts.
In another past structural scheme for one of the past outdoor units, the "seating" end frame of a blower motor which did not have extended thru-bolts was abutted against the interior or bottom face of a housing cover for the past outdoor unit, and four screws were driven through the cover into threaded engagement with the "seating" end frame thereby to mount the blower motor to the cover. One of the disadvantageous or undesirable features of this past structural scheme is believed to be that it was only a marginally "safe" design.
In still another past structural scheme for another of the past outdoor units, one of the legs of a plurality of generally L-shaped metallic brackets was secured to the interior or bottom face of a housing cover for such past outdoor unit, and the other of the legs of such L-shaped brackets extended or depended from the interior face of the cover. The "seating" end frame of a blower motor which did not have extended thru-bolts was disposed at least adjacent the interior face of the housing cover between the other legs of the L-shaped brackets, and a plurality of screws were passed through such other legs into threaded engagement with a shell or housing of the blower motor to which the "seating" end frame was mounted. Again, one of the disadvantageous or undesirable features of this past structural scheme is believed to be that it was also only a marginally "safe" design.